Sweet Red Things
by bellagill92
Summary: It looked big, red and yummy. Little had the youngest member of the Scarlet household known when he'd woken up that day that he would fall in love at the first bite. (Part of the 'Our World' series. Can be read as a stand-alone fic.)


**A/N: Yet another session of babysitting my baby nephew and, clang, inspiration hit me for a baby-centered fic. This is the official sequel to 'Giants'. Please keep in mind that babies' minds probably don't actually work like that...**

The day started with the usual brand of frustration for the eight-month-old baby residing within the Scarlet household: waking up to find himself stuck in a cage-like container (a.k.a: crib).

Fed up, the baby pouted. How rude of his giants to stick him in there… It seemed that, no matter how much he protested, they would insist upon making him sleep in that horrid contraption. True, there was still a language barrier between them but he was trying hard to learn their words, even if his mouth wouldn't quite obey. But were words really necessary to express his displeasure? Wasn't it obvious? He knew for a fact his giants slept in a completely different surface, equally soft at the bottom but bigger and with no bars – sometimes they would even let him fall asleep there but every morning he would find himself in that distasteful place.

So, what did he do in his infant wisdom? Well, he reached for the bars, pulled himself into a slightly unsteady standing position and blared. Loudly. He wanted his frustration to be heard _all over_.

And so, not long after, they were. He heard steps outside his room and, before he knew it, his red haired giant walked into the room. He had come to learn quite recently than her name was 'Mama'. He had made several attempts to pronounce such a name but it had come out as distorted as everything else. She seemed to answer to most sounds he emitted, though, as did his face-marked giant by the name of 'Daddy'. Cage-container aside, he really had no complaints about them. They kept him fed, warm and happy at all times.

Giant Mama smiled as she approached and he suddenly felt tempted to smile back – he didn't because, stubbornly, he thought his complaints had a right to be heard. As such, he kept pouting. But then, Giant Mama reached for him and picked him up, out of his cage, and held him close to her chest.

"Good morning. Is my little man cranky today?" she asked in a bright tone she reserved for him and him alone.

A kiss was placed on his cheek, fingers tickled his side, making him giggle against his will, and his hand made its way to her long strands of red hair on complete instinct, grasping but not pulling… all of a sudden, he couldn't even recall why he'd been so annoyed. Annoyed? Who?

"Daddy is coming home from his job any time now," she informed him while preforming the usual, less dignified procedures of the day. He deemed them a necessary evil, though, given that he didn't like how his butt felt wet when such indignities were not performed and instead chose to focus on Giant Mama's voice even though she might as well be speaking a foreign language. He did get from the tone that she was speaking of something happy, so he cooed, making Giant Mama smile. He liked her smiles. "Are you excited to have him back home again?" she asked.

He answered with a blank look, not even understanding that he was being asked a question. Giant Mama just smiled and tickled his side again, making him giggle once more before picking him up from the surface where she had temporarily laid him on.

She carried him out of the room and through his favorite part of the house – the hallway in which the walls went up as people walked (something he would, one day, come to know as the stairs). Given the way Giant Mama's body bounced up and down as she went down, it felt like a regular amusement ride for him. His giants seemed to know he liked that strange hallway – sometimes when he was really cranky, Giant Mama or Giant Daddy would go up and down over and over until his mood had improved.

He was placed in his throne when they reached the food room. On it, he was almost (well, still a long way from almost but closer) as tall as his giants without needing to be carried and that made him feel important. Although the throne was also containing, with the tray stationed in front of him, it didn't bother him as much as the cage container – at least on his throne, he could watch Giant Mama as she moved around, though usually, it was Giant Daddy in the food room. He suspected that might have something to do with the fact that whenever Giant Mama did things in the food room, the smell would make him wrinkle his nose and it was, at times, accompanied by black smoke, which never happened with Giant Daddy.

But, so far, his nose wasn't wrinkling and Giant Mama wasn't standing by the usual source of the smoke. She was, instead, fiddling with a bowl of something… plural. Familiar somethings: red like Giant Mama's hair and with a top that looked like the leaves from trees outside. He had seen Giant Mama eating those red things before and, more rarely, Giant Daddy too. It must be giant food.

But then, much to his surprise, Giant Mama came over with one of the red things – a big one with the leafy top missing. She lowered herself just enough so she could look at the baby in the eyes, shooting him a meaningful look that said 'serious business'.

"You are turning eight months old today, baby," she informed him. The baby, unsurprisingly, responded with a blank look. "And according to the mean lady who helped me bringing you into this world, it should be okay to let you have this now. Now, you weren't too keen to let Mama eat this when you were in her belly but Mama is hoping that was only those evil hormones that escorted you here being utterly cruel. Honestly, I cannot see a reason why a child of mine would dislike the best food in the world, possibly the universe, so let's see how it goes now. It's called strawberry – remember that name. It is worthy of being the first word you utter."

As his Giant Mama held the big, red piece of giant food, the baby couldn't help thinking that it looked really yummy. He wanted to chew on it. True, he wanted to chew on most things these days – there was hard stuff coming out of his gums and it _hurt_ and chewing made it better. And that big red thing… not only did it give him the hope of maybe, one day, making him as big as his giants, but also it looked more chewable than anything he had ever seen. So, immediately, he reached for it.

His redheaded Giant Mama seemed eager to let him and looked at him expectantly as he shoved it into his mouth… well, as much of it as he could because the big, red thing was literally too big for his mouth.

His little eyes widened. It was love at the first taste. Never had he, in his short life, tasted something so good. Sweet and the tiniest bit bitter and, more importantly, it tasted the same as Giant Mama smelled! He looked at her with wide-eyes as if questioning 'where have you kept this delicacy all along?'.

Giant Mama smiled really wide and the baby removed the fruit from his mouth for a moment just so he could coo at her thankfully before, of course, returning it right back to its place. It _truly_ was the greatest food in the world.

* * *

><p>It was that scene Jellal came home to find: his son sitting on his high chair sucking on the biggest strawberry had ever seen (the baby could barely hold it himself) and Erza watching the little boy so closely (and adoringly) that she hadn't even heard the front door closing.<p>

He couldn't help having to stand there at the kitchen door, watching mother and son interact in delight. It would be stating the obvious to say that Jellal loved his son – adored him as much as he adored Erza. And, modesty aside, he was sure the little boy felt the same way back. But never would he dare to assume that his closeness to the baby was anywhere near the one between mother and son. They were, to put it plainly, two of a kind – redheaded partners in crime, who, as the little boy grew, didn't fail to show similar mannerisms. To be honest, he did not have a word to say against that: they did say boys tended to be closer to their mothers and watching those two together was like watching the sun shine – nothing brought him more joy. To think that Erza had, at one point, doubted her ability to be a good mother ('emotionally stunted', she had called herself – an obvious ill-fitting label if he had ever seen one).

At some point he saw the boy's eyes on him and, though his mouth was too busy sucking on the strawberry (he seemed unable to actually bite it, which was probably a good thing to avoid choking hazards) but there was a grin visible on his eyes. He had been missed, Jellal concluded in delight. As such, he found that as good a time as any to announce his presence, which he did by clearing his throat.

Erza turned around, startled. "Oh, you're back," she said, relieved it wasn't a robber she would have to clobber with her baby in the room.

"I am," he said with a smile, walking in. "Where did you find that big a strawberry?"

"I have my ways," she replied cryptically. It gave Jellal a mental image of her having some sort of shady strawberry dealer. "Porlyusica said it was okay for him to have them!" she said defensively before he had a chance to speak further. "She said that as long as it wasn't small enough for him to try swallowing it whole and there was someone watching him, I didn't have to mash it for him either because he'd just gum on it. His first strawberry ought to be the authentic experience."

Jellal chuckled. "I wasn't going to say anything," he assured her. "But it looks like he's a fan."

"Of course. He's my son, isn't he?" she said haughtily.

He refrained from mentioning that she hadn't sounded so sure when she was weeping as her hormones made her shotgun lemon bar after lemon bar while also causing her to snub her beloved strawberry cake. The words 'there's something wrong with this baby' had been said a lot whenever the lemony treat made an appearance.

"Now, I believe you are warranted a welcoming kiss…" she prompted, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I believe you are right," he easily agreed, leaning down.

But the kiss lasted only for maybe two seconds before they felt themselves on the wrong end of a glare. Given that there was only another person in the room, they turned to face their son after breaking apart. And so, they found the baby still munching on the big strawberry as he stared at them with narrowed eyes, wordlessly accusing his parents of shameless indecency. They had, basically, created the ultimate block to their intimacy in the form of an infant.

"Maybe we should continue this later. It looks like we are committing a big fault in his eyes," Jellal suggested.

"Agreed. Not in front of the baby," his wife confirmed with a nod. And then, as her son's attention was fully returned to the strawberry, her eyes twinkled with pride. "Watch him for a second. I need to get a camera. His baby book needs a photo of him eating his first strawberry."

Jellal chuckled and nodded. At the Scarlet household, that was a milestone equivalent to one's first word or steps.

So, while the redhead went to look for the camera, Jellal was left alone with his son, who was seemed to have by then forgotten all about their crime by kissing and was giving all of his attention to the piece of fruit he was holding with some difficulty. Holy crap, the strawberry was big – it seemed almost as thick as the baby's chubby arm.

"So, did _you _miss Daddy?" he asked the little boy, approaching the high chair and crouching down to the level of his son's face.

The baby cooed and pulled the big, partially melted strawberry out of his mouth, generously offering it to his father.

Jellal smiled, knowing there was no bigger proof of love by a Scarlet, and reached over to pat his son's head. "That's okay, buddy, you can keep it to yourself."

As if he understood exactly, the baby shoved the strawberry right back into his mouth and went back to gumming on it happily.

With a chuckle, Jellal shook his head. "Like mother, like son."

**The End**

**A/N: I hope you all liked this pointless bit of fluff. Comments are very welcome (and loved) :D**


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